Happy Birthday to my little Man

We made cupcakes for Nick's birthday and invited the neighbors over to share them. They got all sugared up and ran around like crazy people. It got crazier when I pulled out the camera and started taking pictures. They are all such hams!

It's hard to believe that it was 3 years ago that my little Nicholas entered the world screaming his little head off and significantly larger than his brother had been. He's been expressive right from birth and continues to make his wishes known in no uncertain terms. He's got a bright beautiful smile as well as a quick temper. If he's not getting his way, watch out. He's also got a great sense of humor and is always telling jokes and playing pranks. I wish I could describe the glint in his eyes when he's teasing you. You can just see how delighted he is with himself to be trying to get your goat. Nick is also kind, compassionate and thoughtful. He never forgets to think of his brother and share things with him. Unless, of course, he's feeling competitive. Then its all about him and he can't wait to show his brother he's got something Collin doesn't. It has been such a joy watching the relationship develop between my boys. Like all brothers they pick on each other and fight but for the most part they look out for each other, play nicely together and are fiercely loyal to one another. When I got pregnant with Nick I had so many questions about what life would be like with 2 children. The scariest was would I be able to love the second one as much as the first. I couldn't imagine loving another child as much as I loved Collin. And then I had Nick. The moment I first heard that angry cry and held him close I knew I loved him every bit as much as Collin and all my worries were unfounded. Nick has been such a blessing in our lives. He makes me smile and teaches me new things every day. Happy Birthday little man! You make each day brighter and I'm so very proud of you and everything you've accomplished so far. I can't wait to see all your new discoveries and to be a part of all your new adventures in the next year.

Collin's 1st Bike

For his birthday Collin we took Collin to Toys R Us to pick out a big boy bike. From the moment he hopped on to try it out he was hooked. He rode all over the store. Thank goodness it wasn't crowded. When we asked how much the bike was we found out it was discontinued and out of stock. ACK! Thank goodness they let us buy the floor model with a bonus 10% discount because Collin was NOT leaving there without his new blue Star Wars bike. When I saw how well my baby rode that bike all over the store I was just blown away. How could my baby be so big already? As soon as we got the new bike home we rode it all the way around the block. Nick was right beside him the whole time always ready to put his hand on his brothers back to give him a little push up a hill. He was so supportive, it was really neat to watch. Of course he wanted to give it a try too but he's not quite big enough yet. Soon though. I don't think he's going to put up with being told he's too small for very long. Anyway, here's a video and a couple of pictures of Collin with his new bike. I don't think I've ever seen him so excited over anything!

Good-by 29, Hello 30

I'm leaving my 20's behind and despite the fact that my sister has teased me for months about getting old, I'm not bothered by it at all. A lot of remarkable things occurred over the last decade (OK, "decade" made me feel a little old). I met and married my husband, had two amazing children, graduated college, bought my first brand new car and our first home. There have been ups and downs along the way but I wouldn't change a thing. I'm grateful for all the experiences I've had and all the things I've learned from them. The next 10 years will no doubt bring challenges as well, but it also brings lots of new opportunities and adventures. My boys will go to school, maybe play a sport, an instrument, who knows what interests they'll develop. but we'll have fun watching them grow into young men. By the time the next decade has passed Collin will be 13 and Nick will be 11. They'll be teenagers and then I might feel old, but not yet. Turning 30 isn't exciting like 21, or even 25 when your car insurance rates go down, but it doesn't make you old either. I remember a time when I thought 30 was ancient. I was probably 10 or so and taking dance lessons. My instructor was telling us about college and how they have a cafeteria where you can get a hamburger any time you wanted. I thought that was the coolest thing I'd ever heard. 21 seemed really old then. I remember thinking that I was going to go to college, eat all the hamburgers I wanted, get married and have a baby by the time I was 21 (because that seemed so old and far away). As I got older, maybe 16 or so, I realized that 21 wasn't old at all and my plans changed. I went to college and ate more waffles with strawberries and whipped cream than hamburgers, but still thought it was pretty cool. I was almost 23 when I got married and 26 when I had Collin. That's still pretty young but a big improvement over 21. I guess when I was 21 I probably thought 30 was old but now that it's arrived, it's definitely not. I am not old, I'm just slightly more experienced and hopefully a little wiser. I keep thinking that I should feel something about turning 30 but I don't. I'm not particularly excited or dismayed, it's just another day, another milestone crossed. Maybe I'll feel differently on my actual birthday but for now, no big deal. So you can call me old all you want and maybe someday I'll actually get there, but I hope not. I have a friend who just turned 70 and I wouldn't call her old. Yes, the number is getting to be rather large, but she is definitely not old. Age is just a number, old is a state of mind. As long as your body doesn't have other plans for you, I think you can stay young forever and that is exactly what I plan to do. So bring on my 30's and every decade after that. I look forward to each and every day with all the joys and challenges that go along with them.

Nick's Baptism and Birthday

Nick's Baptism turned out to be very nice, despite a few minor mishaps. Like the fact that we were running late and so was everyone else and I think the priest thought we weren't coming. And the fact that it rained. Everything ended up just fine though. The ceremony was very nice and Nick was exceptionally well behaved. He didn't cry at all. I can't say the same of his brother. I don't think he actually cried, but he ran all over the church and called out during the ceremony. I was really embarrassed. When the priest asked what name we gave our son we told him "Nicholas Timothy" but he later referred to him as Nicholas and Collin yelled at the top of his lungs that it was Nicholas Timothy. My dad teased me months ago when I kept putting of Nick's baptism for various reasons that poor Nick would be walking to his baptism. Sure enough, he is walking like a champ now. He's been taking steps here and there for a while now but this past week or so he's really taken off.

Since we waited so long to baptise Nick we decided to combine it with his birthday since they fell so close together. The party was a lot of fun. Once the rain stopped we were able to go outside and the kids got on the moon bounce. I wouldn't be a party if Collin didn't take his pants off. Since he was playing outside his pants wound up soaking wet and he removed them. He did at least leave his underwear on. Tim was going to put new ones on him but we quickly realized that would be pointless if he was going to play outside some more as his pants would just get wet again and he would take them off again. When it came time for the cake we sang happy birthday to Nick and put his little cake in front of him but he wanted nothing to do with it. I think he was just overwhelmed by the whole experience. The next evening I put him in his high chair and gave him his cake again. He quickly decapitated the bear and made short work of it. All in all, everything went very well. I have to say a huge THANK YOU to Tim's parents who came up early and helped us get everything ready to go, and to my parents for making the ziti and coming over early to help set up and to Tim who is pretty much solely responsible for making the house look nice. I definitely could not have done it without you guys!

Happy Birthday Nick

Pictures from the Baptism and Nick's 1st Birthday Party



Pictures from the Gigantic Moon Bounce at the park today



It's late so I'll write about all this stuff later but it was a very busy and very fun weekend.

How to Trash a Room in No Time Flat

1. Spend 2 hours mixing colored icing and decorating a cake. You should have seen my kitchen by the time I was done with the cake.
Collin loved his Thomas cake. We sang Happy Birthday and he blew out the candles. He managed to get them all with some help from Aunt Bella.
2. Bring on the presents. Note: As if Collin wasn't doing a good enough job flinging wrapping paper and tissue paper all over the room, the dogs were playing there as well.
Here is the train set I bough Collin. He loves it. In fact, its still set up in my living room. It is kind of cool because it's remote controlled.

Grammy and Grampa bought him some Berenstain Bears books. We got Too Much Junk Food from the library and have read it every night since. Thank goodness he got that one because it would have been ugly when we finally had to take it back.Here is some of the stuff he got. You can see wrapping paper and bags all over the floor too.
Collin's going through all the paper to make sure he didn't miss any presents. He didn't.

3. Play with all of the new things at once.
I really should have taken a picture of the mess the moon sand made. It's really pretty cool stuff. My carpet was blue by the time Collin was done playing with it. That's OK though. It doesn't stain and it came right up with a little vacuuming.

Already? Where did the time go?

Finding a time when everyone is free to celebrate a birthday this time of year can be a bit challenging. Collin is turning 3 soon so we had my family over tonight for a little birthday party. Collin informed me that I forgot to decorate but he didn't seem to really mind. I have to say, I was shocked at what a gracious little host he was. I don't do a whole lot of entertaining so I know he didn't pick this stuff up from me (quite frankly I don't care where he picked it up, I'm just glad he did). Anyway, he thanked all of his guests for his presents and for coming to his party, then he told them he hoped they'd had a good time! It's his 3rd birthday. Did I mention that? He thanked me for making his Thomas the Tank Engine cake and told me how cool it was. He also told us all he loved us "so much" and gave everyone big hugs. When it came time to open presents Collin was so excited he could hardly contain himself! He wanted to play with everything right away. Who could blame him? He got lots of cool stuff; a bubble maker, a Thomas the Tank Engine set, a truck, some books, moon sand, a Cars slip and slide. Of course we had to set up the train right away. The first thing Collin did was ask to read the directions. My sister handed them to him and he "read" them and said "First we need 2 cups of..." Can you tell we've been baking recently? When I asked what we needed 2 cups of he told me sugar and flour and a cup of oil and some eggs. Yep that's pretty much what goes into the Amish Friendship Bread we've been making lately. He doesn't miss a darn thing. Speaking of which, he was with me (before Christmas) when I found the Thomas set on sale. I bought it right then and there figuring he would have forgotten about it by now. Not only did he not forget, he told my mom and I on the way home all about how he was going to get his Thomas toy from the closet today. "The one with Thomas and Harold, in the closet Mom" I tried playing dumb and asked which closet and he told me "The one in your room Mom" and he knew it was not the one I keep my clothes in, but the other little storage closet we have there. I didn't even remember that the set had Harold the Helicopter in it too, but sure enough it did. He was so excited about the whole thing that he kept hugging me and telling me "This is the best birthday party I ever haded, Mom!" His reaction to his party and his cake, which I spent hours decorating, was so worth all of the work I put into it. I'll post pictures tomorrow. And just think, he gets another party at daycare next week. Could the fact that his birthday is coming up have anything to do with his exemplary behavior lately? I swear its been like invasion of the body snatchers around here in the mornings. Collin is notorious for going to bed on time but staying awake and playing until 9 or later. Since he's up no later than 5:50 he's usually a total grump in the morning. That's when you can get him to wake up enough to actually say something to you. Most days we have him dressed long before he even opens his eyes. Then he doesn't want to wear his outfit or his shoes and he doesn't want to brush his teeth and use the potty. This week though, I don't know who they replaced my kid with, but I'm keeping him as long as I can. Collin has been an honest to God pleasure to wake up in the mornings. He's pleasant, even cheerful, and cooperative. I haven't had to raise my voice or argue once in several days. Maybe this is just another one of the ways I've seen him grow and mature over the last 3 years. He never fails to make me laugh or smile and sometimes even cry because I'm just so very proud of him. I'm often struck by just how kind, caring and compassionate he can be. As much as I teach him things everyday, I learn from him as well. He sees things from a perspective that I'm often too busy to notice until he brings it to my attention. I'm trying really hard to make sure I take the time to see and do things his way (when appropriate, he doesn't always get his own way). I'm sure every Mom thinks their kid is just the greatest thing since sliced bread, and I'm no exception. Both of my boys are constant sources of amazement and joy, not to mention endless fountains of amusement.

Happy Birthday Collin! May the next year be as delightful as this one has been. I'm so proud of the fantastic little man you're turning out to be.

Celebrating....

Max's birthday was last week so my family celebrated it on Sunday. We had beef stew (mmm....good) and banana pudding for desert. Of course, you can't have a birthday without blowing out candles so my sister bought cupcakes and my boys went to town on them.

While were we celebrating things, my sister told us she got into the business school at Towson and made the Dean's List last semester. WAY TO GO BELLA!

The Best Birthday Present Ever

Yesterday was my birthday and I got some really wonderful gifts but one of them really topped them all and I wasn't even really sure I had gotten it until today. Last night I overheard my parents discussing whether or not they had heard Nick say mama. They decided that it was too soon for him to be talking and they probably didn't hear it. I was inclined to agree with them and didn't give it much more thought. Until this afternoon. Tim was holding Nick who was fussing and trying to reach for me. All of the sudden we heard amongst the fussing a very distinct "ma-ma". We looked at each other in shock as if to say "did you hear that too?". Then I did a happy dance around the bedroom because Collin said dada before he ever said mama. At least one of my boys said mama first. So even though it could just be that Nick has learned the m syllable and is repeating it, I prefer to believe that he said mama. I've heard him say it several times since like he's practicing. My baby boy is growing so unbelievably fast! Before I know it he'll be running around and talking as well as his big brother.

Weekend Udate

My boys have been relatively good this week! Collin didn't misbehave at daycare, or at least not so bad that Rosemary needed to let us know about it and Nick has been his usual angelic self.

This weekend we had a birthday party to go to so we made a trip to Toys-R-Us last night. I had a ball! It was the first time that we've had Collin in the store when he's really been able to understand where he was. He was having a fantastic time looking at all the toys. When we got to the Thomas aisle, he started putting things in the cart. No sooner would I take a train out and put it back where it belonged, two more would take its place. I took the opportunity to talk to him about how everything costs money and how we have to save money to buy things we want like toys. It was really cute until the temper tantrum that erupted when it was time to leave. We went to the Panda Buffet for dinner afterwards and Collin ate a fantastic dinner of french fries and pizza (at a Chinese restaurant). I was just happy he ate.

This weekend Collin has also been asking me to feed the dinosaurs. He and Nick each have an adorable dinosaur bank with their names on it that we "feed" money to and watch as it winds its way down into the belly. Collin found a nickel somewhere in the house and took it up to feed his dinosaur. As soon as he was done, he asked for more money. I said I didn't have any more. He said "I want to show you something", took my hand and led me into my bedroom where he stopped and pointed to the football bank full of change and said "Collin wants some more!". Little stinker is too smart! I told him I would not give him any of the change that was already in a bank, but we could look and see if any had fallen on the floor. As luck would have it, we found a few pennies, another nickel and a couple of quarters. We fed the dinosaur again and I tried to explain what each coin was worth. Collin didn't care, he just wanted to watch the dinosaur eat.

This weekend Collin also helped me wrap both his Daddy's birthday present and Madelyne's birthday present. I was very proud that he seemed to understand that they weren't for him and didn't try to open them after we had them wrapped. He didn't bother any of the presents on the table at the party today either. I was afraid that he would be jealous or want them for himself but he didn't. He made a couple of friends and played happily with them until it was time to go. There was a scary moment when a couple of the girls he was playing with tried to put him in the swing but couldn't get him strapped in. They came to get time and I but all they said was "we need some help with your kid". We thought he'd fallen or something bad had happened, but they just needed help strapping him in. He had a great time playing on the swing and they came to get us when it was time for him to get out, this time without making us panic. Unfortunately, he did not take a nap today. I thought he'd go to bed easily but I should have known better. My overly exhausted little boy finally went to be at 8:00 and even though we did our whole routine, he cried for a good 30 minutes after we left his room. I hope someday we grow out of this phase. It makes me feel so bad that he cries himself to sleep every night!

The terrible 2's and then some...

Oh my gosh, my beautiful baby boy hit 2 and turned into a little devil! Since his birthday party at daycare on Friday, we've had more than few incidents that made me want to pull my hair out. The first occurred Friday evening as I was changing him before going out to pick up dinner. We were in the living room, and I should mention for those of you out of town that the weather is beautiful and the doors and the windows have been open. That being said, we were changing Collin's diaper in the living room and he got away from me. Being big and fat and pregnant, I didn't jump up and chase him immediately, instead opting to yell to him to get his little butt back here. After a minute or two of hearing nothing but giggling, and with no sign of his return, I managed to get my butt up off the floor and track Collin down. I found my sweet angel standing in front of our open front door, in nothing but his t-shirt, giggling at the puddle of pee and pile of poop that he'd just made, again right in front of my very open glass door. I hope none of my neighbors were walking by while he was doing this. I hauled his little butt back to the living room, got a new diaper on him and had a discussion about how he didn't have to wear a diaper if he didn't want to, but that meant he had to go to the bathroom in the potty. I really don't expect that discussion to lead to anything. The next incident occurred while I was out getting dinner. I returned home to find that while Tim had turned his back for a few moments, Collin had chosen to update our kitchen floor with his latest artwork. By the way, magic eraser is great at removing crayon from ceramic tile. Then this morning, as Tim and I were attempting to combine closets in preparation for the arrival of the yet to be named baby, we made the mistake of allowing Collin to play by himself downstairs. The doors were all shut, the cabinets were all locked. The house was baby proofed, or so we thought. Then we heard the sound of lots of little things falling on the floor and Collin giggling again in delight. We came downstairs just in time to discover that Collin had opened the can where we keep Sadie's dog food and proceeded to distribute her food all over, not only the dining room, but the living room as well. I should mention that this was after I watched him put a chicken nugget in his mouth at lunch, walk over to her and feed it to her, right from his mouth. I swear he wasn't doing this stuff a week ago!